Rose For A Monster
by speedfan
Summary: "Oh, well… I guess I have one last suggestion." Roman teased, placing his hand on the thick folder in front of him threatening to take it back. "This one you can't throw out or I walk" The criminal watched all three men before him squirm. He paused for effect… "Red."
1. Chapter 1

"Name your price" Ozpin asked his voice calm though everyone in the room knew he was anything but.

"How about the boy? The blonde one."

"Jaune? No he's hardly combat ready" said Ironwood. "Someone else Torchwick"

"Oh I know!" the criminal said in a tone of mock excitement "How about the orange haired girl."

"Penny?" Ironwood said taken back by the suggestion.

Ozpin sighed. "I think he means Nora. She's too destructive Torchwick, we'd be spending the entire time saving you from her"

"Oh, well… I guess I have one last suggestion." Roman teased, placing his hand on the thick folder in front of him threatening to take it back. "This one you can't throw out or I walk" The criminal watched all three men before him squirm. He paused for effect… "Red."

"Mrs. Rose?" Ozpin asked, having heard Ruby referred to by that before.

Ozpin, Ironwood and Qrow all looked at the manila folder on the big glass table horrified. Qrow stood up and went to the window carrying his flask with him; the lid was the only thing on the table, besides that blasted folder. The fourth man at the table was leaning back in his chair smirking.

"I'm not selling my niece to this Bastard" Qrow said from the window.

"Hey be nice" Roman teased. "I'm offering you the whole world of organized crime, for one full time body guard. Surely that's a fair trade. But I guess if you don't want it…" He picked up the folder.

"Wait." Ozpin said quickly, glancing at Qrow then to Roman. "It's not fair for us to just give her to you without her consent."

She is still a student, and underage." Ironwood agreed "We have to ask her what she wants to do. Please excuse us to talk to her. We'll have your answer in an hour. Qrow, if you would." He motioned to the elevator door.

Qrow sighed and took a drink. "Yeah, Yeah… I'll go get her." He crossed to the elevator and headed down stairs.

Ruby followed her uncle towards the tower elevator. He was being secretive again and told Yang to stay behind. She felt her entire insides folding in on each other from nerves. Qrow stopped suddenly and she walked straight into him. Ahead the elevator doors opened and Glynda walked out followed by Torchwick? Ruby looked up at her uncle questioningly but he just shook his head and started walking again. They passed by the criminal and he just smirked at them and waived a file folder at them, Ruby noticed it was aimed more towards Qrow. She waited until the elevators closed before she realized she had been holding her breath.

"What's going on Uncle Qrow?" She begged him for an answer but he said nothing and all too soon the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

"Welcome Mrs. Rose" Ozpin greeted her. She saw Ironwood sitting at the desk behind him and her stomach dropped. This wasn't going to be good at all. "Please sit" the headmaster guided her to the table and sat her down in a chair across from Ironwood, then walked around to one of two empty chairs. Qrow walked over to stand in the window, and Ruby noticed that her chair was warm from someone else sitting it in prior.

"We've had a um… Client… offer a job for you." Ozpin started, not sure where to begin.

"Torchwick?" Ruby said mystified.

"You can say no at any time" Qrow cut in. Ironwood glared over at him.

Ironwood cleared his throat. "It's not so much a client but that he's got our hands tied and is demanding your service as his body guard in return for turning in several other criminals. "

"We've reminded him you're a student still of course but he's insistent that it be you." Ozpin explained.

"And you can still say no at any time" Ozpin countered taking a drink from his flask.

"We'd allow you to come back to the school for tests and have staff babysit him for the duration," Ironwood explained" but basically you'd be staying at his location. We've been made aware that he's purchased a property—"

"With stolen money probably" Qrow cut in.

"HES PURCHASED A PROPERTY!" Ironwood shouted louder to continue "And he's positive that no one knows about it. Qrow if you're not here to help we will throw you out" He glared over at Ruby's forever-drunk uncle and Qrow shot him a look back.

Ruby sighed. "How long will this job last?"

"He said as long as it takes us to capture everyone he's turning in, or at least until he feels satisfied that we've got enough of them that he's safe from anyone else." Ozpin told her. "It could be months to a couple years. If we go about this wrong some of them might go into hiding, and we don't know exactly what's in the folder. If you agree he will give us the folder today and a target that we can single out that works alone that we can take in by themselves to verify the data is good and then you'll start work."

Ruby looked at her uncle as he looked out the window. He was so against this… but she could do so much good by helping with this.

"I'll do it" She said defiantly.

"See look she said no." Qrow turned quickly away from the window. Ironwood and Ozpin looked pleased. "Wait what!?" his flask hit the ground.

 _ **A/N**_ _Look two chapters tonight. Just updated Amnesia and now I'm starting this wonderful journey. This is set in an A/U where Beacon never fell. The Vytal Festival never got attacked. Cinder's plans laid elsewhere. Short chapter as a start._


	2. Chapter 2

"Heeelloooo is any-body in there?!" Nora leaned across the cafeteria table waving her hand in front of Ruby's face.

"What's wrong with her" Pyrrha asked across the table to Weiss who was trying to get Nora back into her seat.

"She's been like this all day" Blake explained worriedly.

Weiss leaned in front of Nora to speak quietly to the other team, "She's been assigned a special body guard mission to the criminal Roman Torchwick in return for him turning in several other big players in the underworld."

"Can't you just say no?" Ren asked to Ruby directly instead of talking over her like everyone else.

"That's what Uncle Qrow kept saying" Ruby replied defeated. She shuffled some items around on her plate and attempted to take a couple bites then set her fork down sighing. "I've screwed up haven't I?"

"No! Not at all Ruby, we're just worried is all" Pyrrha looked across Ruby to Yang for support.

"Yeah Rubes" Yang added hugging her sister. "Things always work out good for us; maybe this will be a good thing. Think of all the job opportunities that will come from this!"

"And think of the paychecks!" Weiss added dreamily. "He's a criminal, so he's gotta be loaded! If you wanted to you could blackmail him"

"If you don't get killed first." Jaune interjected. The girls glared at him but Ruby just looked more worried. "WHAT? I'm just telling the truth! He's a criminal, isn't he gonna have people after him?"

Ruby just groaned.

The two teams were walking back to their dorm building when Jaune's scroll beeped a few times. Jaune looked at it questioningly and he stopped on the cement. "You guys go ahead I'll catch up" he smiled at Pyrrha and waved as he turned in the direction of the admin building and took off jogging.

Before opening the door to head into the building he turned back and looked across the courtyard to see if he could still see his teammates and team RWBY, but it appeared the other students had already gone inside the dorms. He walked silently to the elevator to the headmaster's office pondering over the strange summons.

The next evening Ruby tossed her suitcase on the bed, Ozpin had told her to be packed and ready by 9pm just in case. Torchwick and Ironwood had a 24-hour agreement. Ironwood got access to three files and had 24 hours to investigate the claims Roman had stated, and if he decided all the information presented was credible he would sign the papers to Roman's freedom and gain access to the rest of the information. Ruby sat besides the suitcase and laid back defeated, she would know with-in an hour at the earliest whether the information was credible and what fate held for her. Ruby sat up and started working on packing her suitcase; the other three girls sat silently working on their homework. She was not aware when the rest of her team left the room that evening for dinner.

Ruby was aware though, when her team came back from dinner, because it was the same time her scroll started buzzing. She looked up at Yang.

"It's Ozpin, he wants me in his office" Ruby croaked. Yang swept her up in a hug and let her down, and Ruby walked out of the room feeling as though time had stopped. Jaune was coming out of Jnpr's room and paused to let her walk. Ruby was half way across the campus when she realized Jaune was still behind her.

"Jaune?" she stopped walking to let him catch up.

"Hey Ruby" he replied as casually as ever.

"Um…"she searched for words in her head. He had kept walking so she fell in step beside him. "Soooo Where are you going?" she probed.

"Ozpin called me back to his office just now" he shrugged like it was no big deal. "Seems like I'm part of the mission now, they needed someone who didn't really have a well-known family to pose as a relative to this couple. So I said I'd do it." Jaune looked all proud of himself for a minute and grinned "I'm your official point-of-contact for getting your school work and getting anything you need from the city. Ozpin thought it would be best if it was one of your friends, unfortunately your teammate's families are too well-known, Pyrrha is too well known, Ren is too shy and he doesn't look like he could be related… and well Nora is Nora…so they asked me first because I was their last option…also I look like I could be related to the guy soooo it was either me or …me." Jaune laughed

Ruby just shook her head like it was the craziest thing she'd ever heard but secretly she was excited to know she'd be talking and seeing one of her best friends still. She couldn't help but wonder where this couple fitted into the whole plan. She thanked Jaune as he held a door open for her and she stepped into the building.

Inside Ozpin's office the headmaster sat at his desk and Glynda stood behind him looking over his shoulder at papers on the desk. When the elevator opened Glynda stepped around the desk to greet the two students and welcome them. Ruby noticed Ozpin moved the papers into a folder and took out a large yellow envelope and pulled out a couple things while they approached.

"I'm sorry it had to be so late" Glynda offered as she led them to sit at the desk across from Ozpin. "We've just heard back from General Ironwood. All of the information is legitimate and the plans we've discussed will be moving forward at this point."

Ozpin flipped over a picture it was of a man and a woman both in their late 20's. The man was standing close with his arm around the woman. The woman's own hands were folded under her stomach which Ruby noticed as a sign the woman was pregnant even though it wasn't obvious by the baggy sweater the woman in the photo was wearing. They were both smiling happily. The woman, a Faunus, had long brown hair and green eyes she had ears like a mouse just visible through her curly hair. The man was around the same age and had blonde hair a little darker than Jaune's and bright blue eyes. He appeared to be a human. Ruby looked up from the photo at Jaune and Ozpin.

"This is Celeste and Orion Borealis." Ozpin explained. "They're also going to be at the house where you'll be working. Torchwick has employed them as his butler and maid and they're listed on the paperwork as the homeowners. Has Mr. Ark explained his role with you?"

"Y-yes," Ruby looked up from the picture again as Ozpin laid out a map and pointed at a marked location just outside the city. "Jaune was telling me on the way here. He's going to act as my contact while I'm there." She noticed the map marked where the house was in distance to the school and city and she studied it for a second before Ozpin interrupted her by pushing the envelope towards her

"In here is a set of maps of the area around the house, codes to the alarms, and information on some of the enemies who may be targeting Mr. Torchwick including any powers they may have. Though Mr. Torchwick can also fill you in on all that we thought you might not want to talk to him much when you first get there. We're going to need your current scroll back so no one can trace it. You can have it again when the mission is over."

Ruby nodded pulling her personal scroll out of her pocket and slid it across the table. Glynda reached over and took it while Ozpin folded up the map and stuck it inside the envelope with the picture.

The elevator behind them dinged and the door opened. Ruby saw it was her uncle who had come up.

"The vehicle is ready to go. I already got your suitcase from your room; I'm here to walk you out."

Ruby stood slowly nodding and Jaune stood up as well to give her a hug.

"Hang in there. I'll lead team Rwby while you're gone" Jaune teased and Ruby laughed at him.

"You're a good leader Jaune but that's not fair to your teammates. I think Weiss will have a blast being in charge for once. Just don't let them be sad, I'll be back soon." She said confidently. She managed to follow Qrow out to the car, Jaune had stayed back to talk with Ozpin more. Qrow shut the car door and waved to her from the driveway as the car pulled away and she felt her stomach drop and her heart felt like it was being squeezed and she fought to breathe between the homesickness and the tears.


	3. Chapter 3

The windows in the car were darkly tinted and Ruby watched as Orion drove them out of the city and into the woods. There were still houses around but they were few and far between. A few times she even noticed houses that were completely demolished assumingly by Grimm attacks and she wondered if the villains would even be the biggest worry living all the way out here.

When they pulled into the long drive leading up to the house Ruby thought for a minute that they may have taken a wrong turn. The house looked…normal. She leaned over to look out the front window as the road and car turned to lead up to the house. It was a newer house for sure; it didn't look like the normal construction of any of the buildings in town or the ones that they passed on the way (the ones still standing that is). It did look homey like some of the houses that they had passed on the way but it looked almost brand new where the others she could see from the road had some wear to them and this one looked as if the paint could still be wet.

As they were approaching the garage Orion hit a button on his dashboard and the big garage door opened upwards, it was big enough for two cars but the other spot was empty. Once they were parked in the garage and the door was down again Orion nodded to Ruby that it was ok for her to get out of the car. So she did and she went and stood awkwardly next to the trunk waiting impatiently to get her bag and her Crescent Rose in her hands. Orion came and popped the trunk lid open and grabbed out her suitcase despite Ruby's best efforts to carry it herself. He did, however, let her carry her weapon.

"Le'me show you to your room." Orion said cheerily as he led Ruby into the house. "Celeste is out ri' now getting some things. The whole house has this lockdown feature but in case of a breach the entire basement level is a panic room and by the time anyone gets in the army should be here. No one really knows you two are here and since most of your time will be spent in the basement living quarters with Roman anyways there's a low chance of anyone seeing you through the windows. Celeste and I will be living above you and if anyone takes a look in this direction they won't think it's any more than a happy couple staying here"

"Basement?" Ruby asked curiously.

Orion cursed under his breath. "He said he was gonna have someone walk you through the details of the house..."

"Well… I mean they gave me some maps of the land, the actual house, and neighboring areas… but no one really told me I'd be living in a tiny basement with this guy…" She said a little disheartedly.

"Oh." Orion laughed. "It's not a tiny basement at all. It's one level but it's pretty wide and it's a bit longer than the house itself. Imagine if someone built an extra thick dust infused metal box, er…rectangle actually… and then put a tiny house on top of it." He led her to a doorway and opened it to reveal the stairs heading down. "After you m'dear" he said as he held out his arm like an usher.

Orion followed closely behind Ruby and she stopped a few steps away from the stairs as she took in the sight around her. The stairs had led down into the middle of a large hallway and Ruby looked both directions curiously. While she had been walking down the stairs Orion had gotten her attention and knocked against the wall that was against their right side telling Ruby that the wall was one of the outside walls of the basement. The house he explained a little better was on top of the basement but part of the house hung off the edge.

At the base of the stairs Ruby was motioned to continue off the stairs and head straight ahead to the end of the hallway. When she got to the end of the hallway it opened into a giant L shaped living space. There was a corner dedicated as a study area where a desk and computer sat, nearby was a chess set on a table and two plush chairs for the players to sit in. On the wall next to Ruby was a giant mounted TV surrounded by a 'U' shaped sectional. Orion showed her into the room and led her over so she could see the other part of the room that was hidden from her original view. When she could see around the corner she noticed it was mostly bookshelves lining the walls and the far wall held a closed door. The first part of the living room must have been the main living area. She glanced at the door again.

"That's Roman's rooms. I'm pretty sure he's in there at the moment, usually when the door is shut like that he's not want'n to be bothered." Orion put his arm around Ruby and turned her back towards the door to the hallway. "how'bout we go ahead and show you to your own rooms."

Ruby's own rooms were at the opposite end of the hallway from the living room, this end of the basement didn't have a door into Roman's private areas. Orion had given her the tour of her rooms, there was three rooms total, and then he left her to get settled in. Ruby sat on her bed and pulled out the maps she had been given and a simple one Orion had drawn up for her of the basement after the tour. She had been right. The hallway went along almost the entire west wall of the basement; there was a door at each end. Ruby's own room was north and the living room was south. That meant the bookshelf part of the living room and Roman's rooms were on the east wall. Orion had added in Roman's door but drew the room as one giant box. He had drawn her own rooms as one solid box as well. If he had more than one room behind that door Ruby would probably never know.

Ruby's rooms formed a rectangle at the end of the hall. The first room she had entered at the end of the hall was an office with a whole wall of monitors showing all security cameras on the outside of the house and in the common areas of the house and basement. The monitors hung on the wall above a giant wooden desk and under the desk was a computer tower. The office room led into a large bathroom and the bathroom led into her bedroom. The bathroom looked large since it housed only a toilet, a sink, and a shower just big enough to stand in. Her bedroom was absolutely bare except a twin size bed and a cheap looking white armoire for her clothing, which was amazing since both pieces of furniture seemed to take up most of the room. All three of her rooms for some reason though looked like they were the same size. Ruby had growled in frustration when she had seen how tiny her bedroom was and how 'big' her bathroom was. Looking at Orion's basement map she noticed now that Roman's personal area was almost as long as the hallway and wide, the surface area looked like it was bigger than the living areas plus her three rooms. Ruby tossed the papers on the ground and lay back in her bed frustrated. ' _WHO DESIGNED THIS PLACE!'_ She screamed in her head.


End file.
